Dueling
by Hydrochloric Cutie
Summary: Hogwarts had a dueling club once more. What happens when Sally goes to the wrong class? Who is her knight in shining armor?


It was dueling night at Hogwarts. It was Sally Anne's seventh year when they brought this particular event back. They had three different levels of duelers: Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. She was looking at the sign-up sheets in the Entrance Hall, most of the good looking guys were in the advanced group: Harry, Ron, Draco, Blaise, Theo, and Neville. There were even some girls in the group: Hermione, Ginny, Luna, and Pansy. Sally signed her name to the list, even though she was intermediate at best. They wouldn't even get to her, and she just wanted to see the guys in action.

The room number appeared on the paper and she went to the room of requirement. Once she showed up, there was clearly a miss communication. Sally was wearing a skirt and school uniform; everyone else was wearing shorts and t-shirts. Apparently this dueling program would be more intense than she thought. She quickly transfigured her clothes into appropriate attire. They were stretching too. Now Sally was starting to get nervous.

The door banged open and Professor Snape walked in. he was even wearing some sweatpants and a white t-shirt. He had a Muggle whistle around his neck. "Alright, Potter, Lovegood, you're up. Anything goes!" he barked. Harry walked to one end while Luna walked to another. The rest of the rooms' occupants took a seat on the padded floor. Sally hurriedly sat by Ron to watch the duel. Snape blew the whistle right after they bowed to each other, signaling the start. What followed was absolute brilliance. Colored spells were flying, they were dodging and casting like mad. Sally almost couldn't keep up. The duel lasted for a full five minutes.

By the end of the fight, Harry and Luna were panting, wiping sweat from their faces with their shirts. Snape turned to the group. "What can they improve on?"

"Harry could use some more variety in his spells, he used on like twenty times in two minutes," Blaise commented. Harry nodded.

"Good, Potter, speak with Granger about it," Snape said. "Anything else?"

"Luna could use more strength in her blocking spells," Ron said.

"Good, who would you recommend she see?"

"Theo's probably the best at blocking," Ron replied. Snape nodded his head and bade them to sit down again.

"Malfoy, Granger."

The two students got up and bowed. Snape blew his whistle and Sally watched in awe as they cast in complete silence. She heard that Malfoy had been trained by quite a few duelist's, but Hermione did this all on her own. She was even more impressed by this one than the last one.

Snape blew the whistle once more and they both collapsed to the floor. "Solely relying on nonverbal spells will take more concentration and you physically have to compensate," he explained, catching the confused look on Sally's face. "Did anyone catch what they did wrong?"

"Draco needs to extend his arms on his spells if he wants them more effective," Pansy pointed out. Draco nodded at his in acceptance.

"Anyone else?"

"Hermione needs more cardio," Neville teased. Hermione gave him the finger and everyone giggled. They got enough cardio considering they would forget the silencing charm and wake Blaise up; Hermione and Blaise sharing a common room as Head Girl and Boy.

"Granger, be nice and take the advice," Snape said before dismissing them from the dueling platform. "Alright, Longbottom and Parkinson, you're up."

Neville kissed Hermione's forehead in apology for his teasing comment before walking up to meet Pansy. Sally could really start to tell the difference between the duelers. Neville was a giant compared to Pansy, although they were evenly matched. The fight was quite interesting to watch.

Snape blew the whistle after five minutes and they both ceased their casting. "Now why did I pair the two of them together?"

Hermione raised her hand a bit. Snape nodded at her. "You wanted Neville to work on his blocking. Being so tall, it leaves a greater area for Pansy to sneak a spell in. While Pansy's compact and had to withstand quite powerful spells."

"Exactly," Snape said. "What do you think you could have done better?"

"Better blocking," they said in unison. He nodded at them and dismissed them.

"Ginevra, Nott." This name got himself a glare from the female Weasley.

"I guess that leaves you and I," Ron whispered to Sally. She nodded dumbly, knowing that she was in no way prepared for this duel. Ron would probably kill her. She was worrying and going over all the spells she knew for dueling. The duel and exercise was over before she knew it.

"Weasley, Perks." Sally rose shakily to her feet and walked to the end of the platform opposite Ron. They bowed to each other and Snape blew the whistle. Ron threw one spell at her and she couldn't even get her shield spell up in time and was sent careening into the wall. On first instinct, Ron ran over to her, as did Snape. She was unconscious when they got to her.

Snape cast a few diagnostic spells to check for major damage. Since there was none, he turned to Ron. "Carry her up," he said. "You didn't use full strength."

"She was practically shaking, I knew she wasn't anywhere near us," Ron replied, gingerly picking Sally up, holding her close to his chest.

"Good thinking," Snape said. "Go to the floo, it'll be quicker. Let her know what happened and they we are going to be finishing up here."

Ron nodded and stepped into the floo, calling out the hospital wing. A few moments later he stepped out and pulled the bell next to the fire, alerting the matron to their presence. Not fifteen seconds later the elder witch came bustling through the ward. "Mister Weasley, what seems to be the matter?" He told the story and carried her to the back bed so they all could have some privacy. "You did the right thing bringing her here. She has a few cracked ribs and a mild concussion."

"I'll stay with her," Ron said. Madam Pomfrey walked over the supply closet to get a bottle of skelogrow and a headache potion. She left the potions in Ron's capable hands and let him wake her up. Ron would come up and shadow her a few days a week for extra practice. He wanted to go into the Healer's program after graduation – having had enough fighting throughout the war; now he wanted to do some good.

"Ennervate," Ron said, pointing his wand at her chest. She blinked rapidly before groaning in pain. She began to sit up but Ron carefully put a hand on her upper chest, easing her back down to the hospital bed. "Sally, I need you to lie still for me," he said soothingly. "You got hit with a spell and were thrown against a wall. While your back and neck are fine, you have a few cracked ribs and a concussion. I'm going to give you some potions to help, but I need you to relax." She nodded at him and he want to get the potions off the bed side table. First was the skelogrow. "Just a mouthful. And it's going to taste nasty, but you need to just get this mouthful down." She nodded again and took the proffered cup of medicine. One sniff had her ready to gag but she pinched her nose and downed the medicine. Her whole body shuddered at the bitterness of the foul liquid. "Alright, you're already handling her medicine better than Harry does," he joked. She giggled a bit, but clutched at her sides. "Sorry, no jokes then. They last one is a headache potion. It's quite a bit better than the last one."

Once she tipped the contents back of the other cup back, she smiled. "Mmm, mint."

"Yeah, I bugged Hermione to share her recipe with Pomfrey," Ron explained. "The old stuff was almost as bad at the skelogrow."

"That sucks," she murmured.

"Now I have a question, and I think you should give me an honest answer. Why did you come to advanced dueling?"

"Oh, I know it was silly of me, but there were a lot of good looking guys, and I wanted to see some of you duel," she explained, blushing.

"You have to go get yourself hurt over a few good looking blokes?"

"Well, I didn't mean to get hurt," she replied stubbornly. "I just wanted to see you guys in action. It was hot."

"Well I'm glad you enjoyed it," he smirked. "But please don't come back."

"I can't come watch?" she asked.

"No, you show up and I'll get distracted and not perform well."

"I'm a distraction?"

Ron didn't answer right away, instead he leaned down and kissed her full on the mouth. She was shocked but went along with it. Once he broke away, he spoke. "Yes, Sally, you are a distraction. Just talk to us instead. Please don't come to dueling club again."

"Okay," she sighed dreamily, dazed from the kiss.


End file.
